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Once Moore: Appalachian goes after a powerhouse again
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Published: August 30, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. -- On opening day last season, defensive end Quavian Lewis and a friend drove around Nashville, Tenn., looking for a bar showing Appalachian State's game against Michigan.
Lewis had transferred from Vanderbilt to ASU during the summer. He couldn't travel with the team, but he could watch every astonishing development as the Mountaineers beat the No. 5 Wolverines 34-32 and earned instant acclaim as college history's upset kings.
"I was cheering and screaming at the screen the whole time," Lewis said.
Late this afternoon, the loudest screamers will harass Lewis and cheer on Louisiana State, which won the 2007 mythical national championship in the top-level bowl division. Appalachian won its third straight NCAA title in the second-level playoff division and now goes for another knockout punch against a big-leaguer.
Lewis and the other defensive end, Tony Robertson, hope to contain the LSU backs, ease the pressure on a flashy young secondary and regain possession for their jet-powered quarterback, Armanti Edwards. Despite LSU's No. 7 ranking and ancient SEC traditions, the Mountaineers intend to uphold their end of the champions' showdown.
"A lot of people said it was a sneak attack last year because nobody knew what ASU was about," Robertson said. "I think the better challenge is when somebody is respecting you coming in. That way, we've got to play our best ball against whoever's on the field. That's the way it's going to go all season. Everybody's going to come after us."
Coach Jerry Moore relishes going after LSU. As a junior receiver at Baylor in 1959, Moore absorbed a 22-0 Tiger pounding at the state fair in Shreveport. The next October, Baylor ventured into Tiger Stadium and ran into the wall of noise. The wall couldn't prevent Baylor from scoring its first touchdown against LSU in the seven games since 1907, nor could it avert a 7-3 upset.
The 1924 campus stadium, which now holds more than 92,000, rocked that Saturday night three years ago when Appalachian held LSU at bay until the second half, eventually losing 24-0.
Transfer Devin Radford, an ASU sophomore tailback, wore the Virginia Tech uniform during a 48-7 Hokies loss at LSU last September. "It was humid, and the fans were so loud," Radford said. "It was a wild, wild stadium. I'm excited about this game. We've got athletes. They've got athletes. We'll line up and leave it all on the field, and we'll see what happens in the fourth quarter."
Moore wanted another taste of that special LSU atmosphere and another high-profile game that he considers a low-risk, maximum-reward chance.
"We didn't set out last year to go beat Michigan," Moore said. "It was important to beat Michigan, but that wasn't the primary objective. It's the same with LSU. If we're good enough to beat them and we're prepared, that's good, but our objective is to win the Southern Conference championship. That's what we're about. By saying that, I don't mean to take one thing away from Michigan. That was one of the greatest games in the history of the game. This year, we've got two national champions going against each other. There's a lot of fanfare, a lot of glamour to that."
The reflective glamour nearly blinded certain Mountaineers in the first weeks after the Michigan moment, and the assumption that ASU would win a third consecutive NCAA trophy elevated expectations Moore had wrestled with all summer long.
As marketing campaigns go, the 2008 billboards and ticket brochures seem absurdly presumptuous. They show a picture of Moore with his cap and business face on, accentuated by a boast: "Moore of the Same." Yet, he doesn't react with dismissive annoyance of last year, when the message emphasized winning a third championship.
Moore mulls over his larger-than-life picture and laughs.
"They're scraping the bottom of the barrel," he said. "They just didn't have anything else to do, probably. I haven't thought much about that stuff. It's a funny deal. I thought a lot more about it a year ago than I do this year. Everything, to me, is almost like it's back to normal. There was so much made over nobody ever won three in a row. It seems like it was a relief when we did it. I haven't heard anybody in the locker room talk about four and all that stuff. It's not even in the back of my mind like the three was."
The back and the front of Moore's mind will overflow with LSU thoughts long before the kickoff at 11 a.m. ET.
A storm swirls in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mike the Real Tiger paces inside his cage. This is opening day, a day to make bittersweet memories or a day to make history. Again.
■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.
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